Norfolk native starts Roller Derby Virginia Beach business

When Christy Young was 10, her dad took her to a roller derby race in Norfolk.

At the time, Young was fascinated by the rough sport and often watched bouts on TV. Her father hoped that by watching the aggressive competition in person, she would be turned off by the antics.

But, the plan backfired.

As Young sat there watching the women speed around the banked track - throwing elbows and pulling off opponents' helmets - she was hooked.

"I thought, 'That's it. That's what I want do.' The fact that they went so fast and were falling down - it looked like they were having a ball."

As a teenager, Young used to train with the Aragona Skating Rink's speed skating team. The facility didn't have a girls team, but she would race with the boys on the team during practices - doing laps with them but unable to compete in races.

Young always shunned the more traditional girl sports - ice skating or figure skating - and preferred to speed around the rink.

"I put the little cute stuff away. I liked to go fast with the guys."

But it wasn't until nearly two years ago that she actually took up the aggressive sport. She joined the Dominion Derby Girls, a competitive Virginia Beach roller derby league.

Young enjoyed competing with the team, but countless hip checks and booty blocks later she realized finding equipment for roller derby bouts was difficult for a lot of team members.

Because most roller derby equipment is available only online, Young said, it makes getting a good fit and the right gear tricky. She was often seen handing out her own kneepads, laces or roller skates at bouts, to replace her teammates' failing equipment.

"Nobody can be left with bad gear in my presence," Young said. "They called me the Derby Godmother."

She decided to sideline her competitive derby career and sell the hard-to-find equipment full time.

In February she opened Roller Derby Virginia Beach, where participants can either roller derby skate or just roller skate. They can also buy helmets, knee pads, skates and other roller derby equipment.

Young said it's the only brick-and-mortar quad/derby skate shop in Virginia, and she frequently gets customers from out of the area who are looking to try on the equipment. The closest other quad/derby skate shop Young knows of is in Wilmington, N.C.

"I have skaters come from the Outer Banks, from D.C., Charlottesville and from Richmond regularly to skate, buy gear, ask questions about products."

She got the idea to open her Dean Drive business soon after realizing the difficulties her teammates had in finding roller derby equipment.

"It's so outrageously expensive, and there's no place to try it on," she said. "You just have to buy it online and hope for the best."

Young still finds time - between instructing classes and finding equipment - to coast along the facility's 5,600 square feet of skating space. Not like the banked track she remembers from her youth, Young's track is flat.

It's just one of the changes that has occurred as the sport has evolved over the past several decades.

Although hip checks and booty blocks are still allowed during bouts, the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, WFTDA, has toned down the sport for safety.

Gone are the elbow-throwing, over-the-top performances Young remembers watching as a youngster.

"You skate by the rules," she said. "It keeps people safer. If you get in a fight or hurt somebody, you get thrown out. It's not like that anymore."

Within a few months, Young hopes to start a recreational roller derby league at her facility. It would appeal to some of the women who skate there, she said, because it doesn't require the 25-hour time commitment that competitive derby racing can.

Carol Lonigan, owner of Bagels n' More on Constitution Drive, took up the contact sport a few weeks after Young opened the facility. She had roller skated before but had never tried her hand at derby skating.

"I was really scared at first," said Lonigan, 42. "I've been knocked out of the rink a few times."

Now she's in love with sport and has lost 17 pounds since starting a few months ago.

And these days, she's one of the skaters who can be seen nudging opponents out of the way.

"The first time I hit somebody, I thought, 'I love that.' I'm hooked."

Rita Frankenberry, 222-5102, rita.frankenberry@pilotonline.com